MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP IN THE DIGITAL AGE
WEEK 1
VIDEOS
Four activities of managers in the traditional approach to work:
1. Plan ahead – they need to know what the objectives are.
2. Select and organize people – identify the people they need to accomplish their
goals.
3. Command and drive employees – check in to see if all objectives are being fulfilled.
4. Coordinate all activities.
Managers are more concerned with organizing and delegating tasks, while leaders are more
concerned with the tasks and the personal and relational aspects of leading.
Leaders should be able to answer these questions in the new approach to work:
1. Where are we going?
Providing a roadmap.
Provide a vision (includes milestones and tasks, but also values).
Looking further down the road.
Anticipate changes.
2. Why are we going there?
Give meaning or help make sense to a situation/task.
Focus beyond tasks – more on vision and change.
3. How are we going to get there?
Beyond vision and meaning > guiding employees.
Leaders accompany followers through change.
Communication = key.
Leaders in the new way of working are responsible for keeping an eye on, and explaining to
employees where their team is going, why they are going there and providing a clear path on
how to get there to keep their employees motivated and engaged.
Digitalization is seen at three levels:
1. Organizational.
Digitalization depends on organizational culture. A culture needs to be created
that supports digitalization. Two challenges:
o Attitudes towards digitalization: is the culture innovative/experimental
or focused on current practices?
o Investing considerable time in the processes: if there is a flexible and
thorough process, it is easier to make adjustments along the way.
Agile ways of working = focus on the system/process (behind the
way things are done/decisions are made). If so, employees can do
things independently.
2. Dyadic.
When employees are physically separated, interactions are largely mediated
by some digital platforms. Challenge:
o Creating trust between team members with a limited amount of live
interaction.
, 3. Individual.
Challenges:
o To separate (and integrate) work from private life.
o How will you run your work life outside the office (requires leadership
and flexibility).
Digital technology can improve the way of work, but also poses challenges at all levels.
Digital transformation is any shift where companies decide to employ more digital
technologies in order to do services or processes differently. The goal of digital
transformation is to make things more efficient or create new opportunities.
Three factors that drive the decision for digital transformation:
1. Emerging digital technologies. Firms are pushed to integrate these technologies to
stay competitive.
2. New trend for firms to not have a physical location.
3. The way we interact with firms is changing. Firms are trying to create a dialogue
through social media.
In order to assess a firms ‘readiness’ for digital transformation, their digital maturity needs to
be considered.
Four factors that signal firms are digitally mature:
1. The organization has a strategy around digitalization.
2. Long-term focus. Make changes now on what they anticipate will be relevant in the
future.
3. Orientation or culture focused on exploration and experimentation.
4. Hiring the right people (and training/keeping them)
Book Chapter 1
Agile methodology: an approach that embraces flexibility, collaboration, and customer
focus. It involves breaking projects into small chunks called sprints that are prioritized based
on customers’ needs and feedback.
Artificial intelligence refers to the use of machines and algorithms to perform tasks that
typically require human intelligence such as visual perception, speech recognition, and
decision-making.
Big data refers to the colossal ocean of data that is too vast and complex for traditional tools
and techniques to handle.
The digital age is the era in which technology and information play a crucial role in our daily
lives.
Digital transformation is when an organization fully adopts digital technologies to radically
change its business model, culture, and operation.
Digitalization = the shift from old-fashioned, analogue ways of doing things to new, digital,
and technology-driven ways. It is a continuous process that requires constant adaptation and
learning.
Digitization = the process of converting analogue information into digital form.
WEEK 1
VIDEOS
Four activities of managers in the traditional approach to work:
1. Plan ahead – they need to know what the objectives are.
2. Select and organize people – identify the people they need to accomplish their
goals.
3. Command and drive employees – check in to see if all objectives are being fulfilled.
4. Coordinate all activities.
Managers are more concerned with organizing and delegating tasks, while leaders are more
concerned with the tasks and the personal and relational aspects of leading.
Leaders should be able to answer these questions in the new approach to work:
1. Where are we going?
Providing a roadmap.
Provide a vision (includes milestones and tasks, but also values).
Looking further down the road.
Anticipate changes.
2. Why are we going there?
Give meaning or help make sense to a situation/task.
Focus beyond tasks – more on vision and change.
3. How are we going to get there?
Beyond vision and meaning > guiding employees.
Leaders accompany followers through change.
Communication = key.
Leaders in the new way of working are responsible for keeping an eye on, and explaining to
employees where their team is going, why they are going there and providing a clear path on
how to get there to keep their employees motivated and engaged.
Digitalization is seen at three levels:
1. Organizational.
Digitalization depends on organizational culture. A culture needs to be created
that supports digitalization. Two challenges:
o Attitudes towards digitalization: is the culture innovative/experimental
or focused on current practices?
o Investing considerable time in the processes: if there is a flexible and
thorough process, it is easier to make adjustments along the way.
Agile ways of working = focus on the system/process (behind the
way things are done/decisions are made). If so, employees can do
things independently.
2. Dyadic.
When employees are physically separated, interactions are largely mediated
by some digital platforms. Challenge:
o Creating trust between team members with a limited amount of live
interaction.
, 3. Individual.
Challenges:
o To separate (and integrate) work from private life.
o How will you run your work life outside the office (requires leadership
and flexibility).
Digital technology can improve the way of work, but also poses challenges at all levels.
Digital transformation is any shift where companies decide to employ more digital
technologies in order to do services or processes differently. The goal of digital
transformation is to make things more efficient or create new opportunities.
Three factors that drive the decision for digital transformation:
1. Emerging digital technologies. Firms are pushed to integrate these technologies to
stay competitive.
2. New trend for firms to not have a physical location.
3. The way we interact with firms is changing. Firms are trying to create a dialogue
through social media.
In order to assess a firms ‘readiness’ for digital transformation, their digital maturity needs to
be considered.
Four factors that signal firms are digitally mature:
1. The organization has a strategy around digitalization.
2. Long-term focus. Make changes now on what they anticipate will be relevant in the
future.
3. Orientation or culture focused on exploration and experimentation.
4. Hiring the right people (and training/keeping them)
Book Chapter 1
Agile methodology: an approach that embraces flexibility, collaboration, and customer
focus. It involves breaking projects into small chunks called sprints that are prioritized based
on customers’ needs and feedback.
Artificial intelligence refers to the use of machines and algorithms to perform tasks that
typically require human intelligence such as visual perception, speech recognition, and
decision-making.
Big data refers to the colossal ocean of data that is too vast and complex for traditional tools
and techniques to handle.
The digital age is the era in which technology and information play a crucial role in our daily
lives.
Digital transformation is when an organization fully adopts digital technologies to radically
change its business model, culture, and operation.
Digitalization = the shift from old-fashioned, analogue ways of doing things to new, digital,
and technology-driven ways. It is a continuous process that requires constant adaptation and
learning.
Digitization = the process of converting analogue information into digital form.
